Could Michael Jackson Have Created Twitter?

Michael Jackson is the epitome of creativity. Creativity researchers define creativity as something that is novel and useful. Jackson's works were certainly novel. He created an entirely new music experience. His glove, jacket, dance, and acting all bore the unique stamp that was Michael. And his works were without a doubt useful. He inspired other entertainers and connected with many people (including me, throughout much of my early childhood) through his heartfelt, dynamic, exciting music.

So as far as creativity goes, Michael Jackson was at the pinnacle. Which makes him a musical genius. But I wonder, how far does his genius spread? If he devoted his time to basketball at a young age, could he ever have dunked like the other M.J.? If he committed to Physics, could he have produced a revolutionary theory like Einstein's? With his innovative powers, could he have created Twitter?

This isn't an easy question to answer. If we look at the top of the ability spectrum-the Michael Jackson's of the world-only a few exist. And out of that already small number, only a few have reached eminence in more than one domain. Renaissance men or women do exist, but they are more the exception than the rule.

Another complication is that it requires a tremendous amount of knowledge and practice to reach the highest levels of creativity (there is a general consensus that the minimum is 10 years). These years are spent obsessively honing a craft. Sacrifices are often made. Ten years is just the minimum. Some fields, such as creative writing, require ten years to expertise, but another 10 years for creativity (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2007).

So perhaps if Michael Jackson devoted just as much time and energy to coming up with a new technology, he would have come up with Twitter. Or if he majored in Physics and spent ten years studying the cosmos, he may have come up with a theory better than string theory. Or if he spent as much time practicing basketball as Michael Jordan, he might have made the All-Star team of the NBA. Possible, but improbable.

What made Michael Jackson such a success is that the particular talents he possessed in abundance were particularly suited for success in the entertainment industry. So few others in the entertainment industry had precisely the features he had, and in precisely the combination he had them.

Researchers Rena Subotnik and Linda Jarvin interviewed over 80 top students at different stages of their musical career and found that to get from competence to expertise required learning of technical proficiency. But to get from expertise to "elite talent" required a lot of different components, including creative thought, charisma and practical intelligence (such as the ability to navigate the politics of the music business). Creativity and elite talent are a combination of multiple traits. Jackson had all of these components.

But how domain-general is creativity? Many researchers who work under the Ellis Paul Torrance model of creativity study "divergent thinking"-- the ability to think outside the box in general. Torrance did have some success with his Torrance Tests of Creativity, but research shows that a complete understanding of creativity requires appreciation of both domain-general and domain-specific contributions.

My dear friend and collaborator James C. Kaufman and his colleague John M. Baer developed a clever and nuanced model of creativity that integrates both domain-general and domain-specific components of creativity. According to their Amusement Park Theoretical (APT) model of creativity, the amusement park can be used as a metaphor to explore the nature of creativity. In order to understand high levels of creativity, they argue you must understand requirements at various levels:

Initial requirements.

What are the general requirements for entrance into the amusement park? You need time, money, desire, and transportation. Likewise to be creative, you need intelligence, divergent thinking, motivation, charisma, personality, and suitable environments. The specific degrees needed to succeed vary depending on the field (just as height requirements differ depending on what ride you wish to go on).

The IQ and personality requirements for world-class success in physics likely differs from music. Extraversion might be a more important if you want to be an entertainer than if you want to be a Mathematician. Whatever Michael Jackson's IQ, it was enough to do what he did. It wasn't his IQ that made him great, it was his other qualities, including his unique personality and divergent thinking (although he probably should have sometimes kept his divergent thinking to music). He also certainly had the motivation for music (even if it may have sometimes been external, coming from his father). And he grew up in a musical family, practicing with his brothers from a very early age.

General Thematic Areas. Just as you must decide which amusement park you want to visit, you have to decide which field to invest all of your time and energy. Gregory Feist identified seven "domains of mind" in which people seem to differ in their abilities: psychology, physics, biology, linguistics, math, art, and music. Gardner (1999) proposed eight "intelligences": interpersonal, intrapersonal, spatial, naturalistic, language, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, and musical. James C. Kaufman and Baer asked over 3,500 people to rate their own creativity across 56 different domains and found seven general thematic areas: Artistic-Verbal, Artistic-Visual, Entrepreneur, Interpersonal, Math/Science, Performance, and Problem-Solving. They also found that some forms of creativity, such as performance and artistic/visual creativity were more strongly related to a general creativity factor than other forms of creativity such as Math/Science.

However the domains are carved up, each one tends to display talent early. G. Park, Lubinski, and Benbow (2007) tracked high scorers on the verbal and math SAT at the age of 13 and found that 25 years later they obtained very high levels of achievement in either the math or verbally-oriented fields (this certainly does not mean however, that late bloomers aren't possible. It's also important to note that high achievement does not always mean high creativity).

Michael Jackson had a unique blend of creative talents including extremely high bodily-kinesthetic, musical, artistic-verbal, artistic-visual, entrepreneur, and performance abilities. It's very rare for any individual to be as talented as Michael on any one of these, but to be so precocious on so many of these is indeed extremely, extremely rare. Michael had the X-Factor, and the X-Factor is rare. (click here more on the genetics of the X-Factor). His confluence of abilities showed themselves early, performing in front of classmates and others during a Christmas recital at the age of five. Rolling Stone magazine described the young Michael as a "prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts". Look at the video below of Michael singing Rockin' Robin at the age of 14. He had charisma, dance, voice, and attitude. He was a true showman. A consummate performer. It was all there. At age 14.

Domains. Once you choose an amusement theme, you must choose a specific park to go to. Will it be Disneyland or Epcot Theme Park? Likewise with creativity, what kind of writer do you want to be? A creative poet or creative journalist? At this level, specific motivation is important, as well as knowledge and opportunities. Michael excelled in pop. He was the king of pop. Could he have done as well as a rapper, or a country music artist, or composing classical music? Probably not as well. His particular unique constellation of abilities seemed perfectly suited to his specific domain of music.

Microdomains

. Once you choose the park, you still have to decide what specific rides you want to go on. Likewise with creativity. Even within the pop/R&B genre, there are different styles. Most of which Michael created. The Moonwalk is a form of dance, and a microdomain in its own rite. Could Jackson have been a brilliant ballerina? I think it's highly unlikely he could have made such a splash in the world of ballet. His specific dancing abilities are so well suited to the larger domain of pop/R&B it's impressive.

Howard Gardner and his colleagues distinguish between different microdomains depending on their axis and focus. Microdomains have either a horizontal or vertical axis. If they have a vertical axis, there are lots of constraints, with lots of specific rules. If they have a horizontal axis, there is more flexibility. Micro-domains also differ in their focus. Some are very modular and specific, whereas others apply to a broad range of situations. I'd say Michael was well suited to his particular microdomain of pop, which is horizontal and broad. This allowed Michael to make a splash early, without having to spend ten years immersed in the domain, and also allowed his innovations to cut across multiple forms of music and inspire many different kinds of musicians.

Could Michael Jackson have created Twitter?

I don't think so. He was so innovative within his general thematic area (music), domain (pop/R&B), and micro-domain (the "Michael Jackson" brand of pop/R&B), because of his unique constellation of talents and traits. In many ways he was put on this earth to do what he did. And boy did he do it well.

Kaufman, S.B., & Kaufman, J.C. (2007). Ten years to expertise, ten more to greatness: An investigation of modern writers, Journal of Creative Behavior, 41, 114-124.

Note. For more on the domain-general/domain-specificity debate in creativity, as well as more on other hot topics in creativity research, I highly recommend James C. Kaufman's new book Creativity 101. As I said in an endorsement for the book: "[W]itty, charming, and informative....Creativity 101 makes a convincing case for the importance of creativity in society, in our schools, and in our daily lives....And no, we aren't related."

I am from the generation prior to Michael Jackson's. My son listened to him. I remember his getting the Thriller album when he was about 12. I think of all the people who were positively influenced by this man. I think of the joy, the inspiration, the hope and the love he brought to the world. I think of his androgeny and how intriguing it was. I think of what appeared to me to be pure love for all sorts of people and then I think of the way our society sought to torment him, to demonize him simply because, it appears to me, that he was so outside the norm - and yet, being outside the norm is what allowed him to give us the things we so loved about him. I've read that he was a very isolated and lonely man and I'm so sad about that. His daughter, Paris, talked about what a great father he was and I believe that. I want to believe that. I want to believe that he was a consummate perfectionist in his craft, a true genius and a loving, pure human being. To believe anything else would be hurtful to his memory and to my own faith in mankind.

i love your post..i can't say it more better..it's good to hear words like this comes from different generation, people that gone through and learned life, spoke not base on gossips and media lies but through principles and common sense..thank you!

I grew up listening to Michael Jackson, we would've been the same age. The Rockin' Robin clip is so illuminating...yes, all of his talents are right there to see...you can;t take your eyes off of him..he is so dynmaic and his talents just shine through.
I find it so sad that culture and fame destroyed him. I find it so sad that he felt isolated and alone most of his life.
It is so painful to see him in his later years as the addictions and mental illnesses took ahold of him and ravaged his psyche...the eating disorder, the distorted self-image...I can hardly think about it it is so painful. If only he could've been helped through the addictions and the totally unecessary self-loathing. If only.....

It's been 6 months since he died and I'm still wondering why he was the way he was. What exactly were his problems that caused him to implode the way he did? I believe he died because he couldn't stand living anymore, he couldn't stand to look at himself everyday in the mirror in my opinion and look at what he had done to his once good looking face. He didn't love himself enough so he basically destroyed himself trying to achieve his idea of perfection which went terribly wrong at the end. The plastic surgeon (Hoefflin) who performed all of the excessive surgery on MJ's nose should be held accountable in some way by the medical profession. It makes me sick that his alleged M.D. would perform so much surgery on someone who had severe psychological issues. I hope that no other child star ever goes to such lengths to re-make themselves to appeal to a broader fan base as I believe MJ did. As well as to make himself look more white or more like Peter Pan? Maybe both? His doctor(s) should have known better than to give him all of the surgery and drugs he asked for. Now his kids have to suffer because of it. The media's sick fascination with celebrities in the U.S. didn't help the situation either.

Please do more research on the real Michael Jackson if you are truly interested in what drove him and what killed him. The tabloid version of MJ represented in your comments is not sufficient to understand this brilliant, misunderstood man. For example, his autopsy report proved conclusively that he did indeed have vitiligo -- a condition that depigments the skin. Yes, the media was deafeningly silent on that point when it should have been apologizing for years of cruel remarks. He always insisted he was a proud African-American, but unfortunately, the truth doesn't sell papers. Your comment that he sought to "make himself look more white" is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how misrepresented this man was. History will set the record straight at last but, unfortunately, too late for MJ.

His doctor injected him with a surgical anesthetic. He is routinely said to have been addicted to painkillers. There were no opiate painkillers in his system at all, only drugs administered by his physician to treat insomnia, but the commentators do not prefer that story, so the facts are routinely ignored.

This blogger while appropriately assessing MJ's creative prowess perpetuates the bias in commenting on his life by sniggering that he perhaps should have kept his divergent approach to ideas focused on music. The facts clearly support that he was a victim of extortion. However, when it comes to MJ, people tend to ignore facts, believing that innuendo alone suffices. Most people get their view of MJ from the Bashir-created documentary that should studied in journalism schools as an example of how low, cynical, and dishonest the media can be. Do some research on that, too. It will shock you what you find out.

Media representatives routinely act "shocked" when people who actually knew MJ try to express what he was really like. It is odd how first-hand testimonies are routinely dismissed and the media-created cartoon reflexively embraced.

I wish I had discovered this earlier, but better late than never. This is an honest research which seeks to base its argument on most fitting life examples, unshaken by stereotypical impressions that are constantly being imposed by the mainstream. Unfortunately, we the "medialoid" virus has somehow managed to invade the academic community. For sadly, we find in academia a lot of incidences in which serious researchers would deal with such distorted images as givens, and would contribute to the reproduction of those distortions by integrating them into their research! I've come across numerous cases as such, and particularly when the pop icon, Michael Jackson, is mentioned. I'm so glad I've found this today. It is not only a very interesting read, but also an antidote to the bulk of mainstreamish, lazy, and unscientific "researches" that many journals are full of nowadays. Thank you, Dr. Kaufman. I'm working on a project which aims to trace mainstream influence on academic research. I've also chosen Michael Jackson to lead the way while exposing this dangerous trend, which I believe jeopardizes the very essence of any research work, namely its credibility and validity.
http://justice4mj.blogspot.com/

I saw the movie "This Is It" and it really was an eye opener. What was more noticeable than his creativity was his drive. He was relentless in his pursuit of perfection. Creativity, ability and knowledge all can be understated, but not drive.

I've only just begun reading the article, but regarding the question of whether MJ could have been a great basketball player like the other MJ -- he was fairly tall but not nearly as tall as the professionals. He very likely could have become an excellent player but lacked the height of the pro's

eg:
About The Creative Personality
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/storyality-10-about-the-creative-personality/

Thanks for a great article. Peer reviewed too! Nice.

JT
http://storyality.wordpress.com/

PS - Although, (Gregory Feist identified seven "domains of mind" in which people seem to differ in their abilities: psychology, physics, biology, linguistics, math, art, and music.) I think he forgot Film. Which includes all the other 7... hmmm